Could congressional sanctions on Palestinians backfire for Israel?
In their unstinting zeal to safeguard Israel's stranglehold over the Palestinians, members of Congress may have inadvertently set the stage for the materialization of Israel's nightmare scenario: the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA). As the new 114th Congress gets underway, here's how the law of unintended consequences could unfold over the next few years.
In the consolidated appropriations bill passed last month, Congress renewed a provision that would cut off all economic assistance to the PA if "the Palestinians initiate an International Criminal Court [ICC] judicially authorized investigation, or actively support such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians."
The unexpected move by Mahmoud Abbas, chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to sign the Rome Statute last week may force Congress to deal with the ramifications of this provision sooner than anticipated. Palestine is now set to join the ICC in April and, according to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an, it could file charges against Israel as early as that month, "with legal preparations to that end already well under way."
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/228995-could-congressional-sanctions-on-palestinians-backfire-for#.VLD3yNpC1HY.twitter
